Stampin’ Up! Blessings and Sunflowers

New offerings in the Holiday catalog, from which you can order on September 1, a week from Friday, include the Count My Blessings and Painted Harvest stamp sets. Both are lovely and both are used for today’s card.

I don’t know if oak leaves and acorns go with sunflowers, but they do on this card. I wanted  a watermarked sort of background and didn’t want the sunflower to take over the whole card front, so I made this one a 5″ x 7″ card instead of the typical 4-1/4″ x 5-1/2″.

I began with a panel of Wild Wasabi card stock and stamped the acorns from the Count My Blessings set in Wild Wasabi for a subtle patterned background for my sunflower. Next came an oak leaf from Vintage Leaves. All stamping at this point is stamped off once before stamping on my panel.

In order for it to be dry when I would be ready for it, I next spritzed a panel of Crumb Cake and ran it through the Big Shot with the Pinewood Plank 3D Dynamic TIEF. Spritzing softens the paper fibers and gives a really great texture to your panel. While it dried, I proceeded with the flower.

I really wanted only one flower, and I wanted it to really stand out. This set comes with no coordinating dies, but with a leaf punch, used here. Consequently, I had to fussy cut the flower if I wanted dimension. Cutting one wasn’t enough…no, I had to cut 2.

Since this was the first time I had had an opportunity to play with this set, I did several trials in different colors on different paper colors. This is a two-step stamp. The color combination I used for this card was Crushed Curry for the background and Peekaboo Peach for the second step on Very Vanilla card stock. After fussy cutting them I stamped the center with Crumb Cake, then with some little dots in the center in Early Espresso. I didn’t like this very much, but who wants to cut those petals out again? Not Me!

To fix the center, I stamped it in Early Espresso on a piece of Vellum, fussy cut it and used glue dots under the darker portion to adhere it to the flower enter. It still wasn’t the look I wanted, so I used gold Wink of Stella to add a bit of bling. I liked this much better so quit right there.

The stems are from the Bunch of Blossoms stamp set because I wanted a thicker, more substantial looking stem for that big sunflower. It, and the leaves from the Painted Harvest set, are stamped in Wild Wasabi. Next, to add more texture to the card, I stamped the leaves second step, the details, in Always Artichoke on a scrap of Always Artichoke and punched them out. I did three of these. One is glued directly over the leaf on the right, and  slightly offset. Before adhering it I used my bone folder and drew it along the center vein of the leaves to give them just a little dimension.

I intentionally stamped the background then offset the attached leaves, but it sort of looks like I made a mistake, so I think next time I will forego the background stamp. Or, perhaps stamp it in the Always Artichoke I used for the attached leaves. Live and learn. It is ok, but I think could be better.

The leaves on the left are also offset with the first one being glued directly onto the panel. The second leaf received the same bone folder treatment to allow the leaves to bend up at the main vein. With a folded Glue dot on the back of each leaf and a dab of liquid glue on the stem, this was also attached over the other leaves. A little pinching gave them more dimension.

The sunflower with the completed center was adhered to the second sunflower with Stampin’ Dimensionals. The whole was liquid glued to the panel. A strip of Burlap Ribbon attached along the side with Tear & Tape added more interest and texture. I liquid glued the stamped panel to the Pinewood Plank embossed panel and wrapped the ribbon around both, taping it on the back.

The sentiment, from Painted Harvest, was stamped in Early Espresso on Crumb Cake and die cut using the Lots of Labels framelits. I cut a second one from Always Artichoke, cut it in half vertically and glued the pieces to the back of the sentiment giving it the look of a mat. I wanted to carry a bit of yellow up to the top of the card. How to do this? Hmmm. Those lovely little Touches of Nature Elements, made of wood just might work if I could paint one in Crushed Curry. Well, what do you know! That worked. I added a little Peekaboo Peach as well, and found an orange brad to attach it to the sentiment panel. This was attached with Stampin’ Dimensionals to the stamped panel.

A bow made from two strands pulled from the burlap ribbon finishes the front and is attached with a Glue dot.

For the inside, I again stamped the acorns, this time in Crumb Cake on Crumb Cake card stock. I think this stamp would be pretty colored in. Maybe on the next card……

The sentiment is from the Count My Blessings set also and is stamped in Early Espresso.

This panel was liquid glued to a Wild Wasabi mat and into the Always Artichoke card base. This card is finished except for the envelope. As this is a 5″ x 7″ card, I didn’t have any Crumb Cake envelopes this size, so used a Kraft envelope instead. The front was embellished with a Crushed Curry Sunflower and Wild Wasabi Leaves. The flap received more of the acorns in Wild Wasabi.

I really like using these two stamp sets and most certainly will be making many more cards with them. If you do not have a demonstrator and would like to order these stamp sets when they become available on September 1, you may shop in my store. Just click on the shop online button at right.

Please leave comments below the Products list. Thanks for stopping by.

Just a reminder. If you have bonus coupons from an order in July, you only have 8 days left to redeem them.

• Card Cuts: Always Artichoke: card base 7″ x 10″ scored at 5″, sentiment label mat 2″ x 3″, leaves 2″ x 5″; Crumb Cake: embossed panel 4-3/4″ x 6-3/4″, inside sentiment 4-1/4″ x 6-1/4″, front sentiment label 2″ x 3″; Wild Wasabi: front 4-1/4″ x 6-1/4″, inside mat 4-3/4″ x 6-3/4″; Very Vanilla: sunflowers 2 scraps about 3″ x 3″ or equivalent. Vellum: scrap for flower center

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